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Tim Houlihan is one of the members of this years group going through the AIS/AFL Academy and he recently was interviewed for the Hamilton Spectator.
Each group that goes through the Academy has a very high strike rate when they graduate to draft age so he might be one worth watching. He is following in the footsteps of Matt Tyler who is a Rebel who went through the Academy in 2005.
Weaver might know the numbers on exactly what percentage of Academy players get drafted.
HOULIHAN REVELLING AMONG ELITE
First published by:
Hamilton Spectator
Saturday, January 21, 2006
By Michael Howard
Rising Harrow footballer, Tim Houlihan, has continued to benefit from being selected in the elite AIS/AFL Academy.
Having first attended an eight-day camp in Canberra last December, Houlihan has again revelled in the academy’s opportunities with a frenetic fortnight of football.
From January 8 to 12, Houlihan joined Geelong Football Club as part of the full academy scholarship, then this week journeyed to Melbourne to spend a week with the elite squad.
Joining with the Cats was clearly a highlight of the program to date, with Houlihan admitting that in the lead-up “I was pretty nervous – I didn’t know how the players would welcome us.”
He attended with fellow AIS scholarship holder, Tom Hawkins, son of Geelong’s “Jumping” Jack Hawkins, who played 182 games for the Cats and subsequently Tom Hawkins is eligible under the father-son rule.
The first day with the Cats (January 8) featured regulatory training, weights and recovery.
“Some of the drills I already knew because (Geelong coach) Mark Thompson had taken us for training at the AIS, which helped,” Houlihan said. “For the first session I was really nervous and didn’t train that well, but the players were welcoming which was good.”
“It was the same sort of stuff that we would do at Rebels training, but the difference is that the intensity is so high. It was really good.”
“After that we went to the gym and I followed Cameron Ling and did the same weights as him. We then did hot and colds in the plunge pool to recover before finishing up and we were home by 2pm.”
“On Tuesday we did a swimming session and then some yoga. It was alright, but pretty hard to do some of the stuff that the others were doing.”
“We then did some one-on-one stuff with an assistant coach (Leigh Tudor), where we worked on our kicking style and marking the ball safely while running with the flight. To teach us that we went through some video footage and that was interesting.”
“Wednesday we had another training session and I trained better this time. We did game simulated drills this session. I had to play on Darren Milburn at stoppages and ran him down from behind in one of them; it was probably the highlight of my week.”
“We then did leg weights and I followed around James Kelly before we had a running session that focused on sprint work.”
“On Thursday we had more one-on-one stuff with coaches and did some core stability work, which involves training the deeper muscles in your stomach. That is something Geelong focuses on a lot”
It was a thrilling, intense four days which Houlihan said was a terrific insight into the life of an AFL footballer.
“It was an eye-opener just how full on it is for them,” he said. “They work very hard.”
“It certainly motivated me even more and I want to be a part of it.”
Houlihan enjoyed two days rest before heading to Melbourne on Sunday to attend a further camp, this time with the AIS/AFL Academy squad.
That began on Monday with testing at Melbourne University, where Houlihan produced a personal best (15.10) in the beep test.
Tuesday featured a practice match of Gaelic football, which once again proved a testing venture.
“It was really hard,” Houlihan said. “We played three quarters of international rules and a quarter of Aussie Rules.”
“Aussie Rules was so much easier from a running perspective.”
“Wednesday we visited AFL clubs to watch them train in small groups, my group watched Essendon and that was good because they had a practice match. We then had some Aussie Rules training.”
It was topped off by lectures on Thursday, providing an experience which Houlihan said “has been good so far”.
The academy program culminates with three International Rules games against Ireland beginning in March.
After a massive two weeks, Houlihan could be forgiven for wanting to rest his feet this weekend, but he will enjoy no such luxury.
The teenager will attend North Ballarat Rebels’ camp in Ballarat, to top off what he described as “a busy few weeks”.
Each group that goes through the Academy has a very high strike rate when they graduate to draft age so he might be one worth watching. He is following in the footsteps of Matt Tyler who is a Rebel who went through the Academy in 2005.
Weaver might know the numbers on exactly what percentage of Academy players get drafted.
HOULIHAN REVELLING AMONG ELITE
First published by:
Hamilton Spectator
Saturday, January 21, 2006
By Michael Howard
Rising Harrow footballer, Tim Houlihan, has continued to benefit from being selected in the elite AIS/AFL Academy.
Having first attended an eight-day camp in Canberra last December, Houlihan has again revelled in the academy’s opportunities with a frenetic fortnight of football.
From January 8 to 12, Houlihan joined Geelong Football Club as part of the full academy scholarship, then this week journeyed to Melbourne to spend a week with the elite squad.
Joining with the Cats was clearly a highlight of the program to date, with Houlihan admitting that in the lead-up “I was pretty nervous – I didn’t know how the players would welcome us.”
He attended with fellow AIS scholarship holder, Tom Hawkins, son of Geelong’s “Jumping” Jack Hawkins, who played 182 games for the Cats and subsequently Tom Hawkins is eligible under the father-son rule.
The first day with the Cats (January 8) featured regulatory training, weights and recovery.
“Some of the drills I already knew because (Geelong coach) Mark Thompson had taken us for training at the AIS, which helped,” Houlihan said. “For the first session I was really nervous and didn’t train that well, but the players were welcoming which was good.”
“It was the same sort of stuff that we would do at Rebels training, but the difference is that the intensity is so high. It was really good.”
“After that we went to the gym and I followed Cameron Ling and did the same weights as him. We then did hot and colds in the plunge pool to recover before finishing up and we were home by 2pm.”
“On Tuesday we did a swimming session and then some yoga. It was alright, but pretty hard to do some of the stuff that the others were doing.”
“We then did some one-on-one stuff with an assistant coach (Leigh Tudor), where we worked on our kicking style and marking the ball safely while running with the flight. To teach us that we went through some video footage and that was interesting.”
“Wednesday we had another training session and I trained better this time. We did game simulated drills this session. I had to play on Darren Milburn at stoppages and ran him down from behind in one of them; it was probably the highlight of my week.”
“We then did leg weights and I followed around James Kelly before we had a running session that focused on sprint work.”
“On Thursday we had more one-on-one stuff with coaches and did some core stability work, which involves training the deeper muscles in your stomach. That is something Geelong focuses on a lot”
It was a thrilling, intense four days which Houlihan said was a terrific insight into the life of an AFL footballer.
“It was an eye-opener just how full on it is for them,” he said. “They work very hard.”
“It certainly motivated me even more and I want to be a part of it.”
Houlihan enjoyed two days rest before heading to Melbourne on Sunday to attend a further camp, this time with the AIS/AFL Academy squad.
That began on Monday with testing at Melbourne University, where Houlihan produced a personal best (15.10) in the beep test.
Tuesday featured a practice match of Gaelic football, which once again proved a testing venture.
“It was really hard,” Houlihan said. “We played three quarters of international rules and a quarter of Aussie Rules.”
“Aussie Rules was so much easier from a running perspective.”
“Wednesday we visited AFL clubs to watch them train in small groups, my group watched Essendon and that was good because they had a practice match. We then had some Aussie Rules training.”
It was topped off by lectures on Thursday, providing an experience which Houlihan said “has been good so far”.
The academy program culminates with three International Rules games against Ireland beginning in March.
After a massive two weeks, Houlihan could be forgiven for wanting to rest his feet this weekend, but he will enjoy no such luxury.
The teenager will attend North Ballarat Rebels’ camp in Ballarat, to top off what he described as “a busy few weeks”.
